I'll start by stating the obvious: Red Skull is not a sympathetic villain. He's a Nazi, which is probably, in fact, the exact opposite of a sympathetic villain. Greg Pak has taken on the difficult task of writing a Red Skull origin story where we're asked to follow along in the early years of a character who, as the title of the comic itself suggests, is basically evil incarnate. Red Skull is not the sort of villain who, while clearly not the product of a loving home and a good childhood, is also not someone who you can effectively portray as having the excuse of lacking those things. The story of how Red Skull becomes Red Skull cannot be one of a decent man turned bad, but instead the story of a bad man turned evil. In Red Skull Incarnate #3, Pak continues as he's done in the last two issues of this series by walking the fine line between showing what sort of tragic past a man like Red Skull could have and showing what was innate in him all along. Read Full Review

Red Skull: Incarnate #3 might be the weakest link of this series thus far, but it's still a good comic. Outside Pak's exposition-heavy closing, the characterization remains strong and the art by Mirko Colak is still top notch. Read Full Review